The Secretary of State to the Consul at Geneva (Gilbert)
[Telegram: Paraphrase]
WASHINGTON, October 9, 1931-6 p. m.
73. Consulate's 162, October 8 [7], 5 p. m. A memorandum in writing containing
the following message from me dated as of October 5, 1931, may be handed by
you to Sir Eric Drummond. This he may feel free to communicate confidentially
to the Council members.
"I believe that our cooperation in the future handling of this difficult matter
should proceed along the course which has been followed ever since the first
outbreak of the trouble fortunately found the Assembly and Council of the League
of Nations in session. The Council has deliberated long and earnestly on this
matter and the Covenant of the League of Nations provides permanent and already
tested machinery for handling such issues as between States members of the League.
Both the Chinese and Japanese have presented and argued their cases before the
Council and the world has been informed through published accounts with regard
to the proceedings there. The Council has formulated conclusions and outlined
a course of action to be followed by the disputants; and as the said disputants
have made commitments to the Council, it is most desirable that the League in
no way relax its vigilance and in no way fail to assert all the pressure and
authority within its competence towards regulating the action of China and Japan
in the premises.
On its part the American Government acting independently through its diplomatic
representatives will endeavor to reinforce what the League does and will make
clear that it has a keen interest in the matter and is not oblivious to the
obligations which the disputants have assumed to their fellow signatories in
the Pact of Paris as well as in the Nine Power Pact should a time arise when
it would seem advisable to bring forward those obligations. By this course we
avoid any danger of embarrassing the League in the course to which it is now
committed."
STIMSON
Source: U.S., Department of State, Publication 1983, Peace and War: United States Foreign Policy, 1931-1941 (Washington, D.C.: U.S., Government Printing Office, 1943, pp. 157-58
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